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Best Marine Battery


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I currently only use one battery on my 03 that powers everything for the boat including 8 JbL speakers ,12 inch sub and 3 amps. My existing battery gets hooked up to a trickle charger after each use. I want to get a new battery, whats the latest and greatest marine battery. Thanks 

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Agree with MLA.   Go to a dual battery set up.  Done what he said both ways on my boats with good success.  

On my last boat I added a 2nd battery for just the stereo and used an auto combiner.  (After running my single battery down once and getting stuck...)  Mounted battery box next to the existing one. Separated the stereo wiring to 2nd battery.  Downside is not easy to switch for back up start up redundancy if needed.  

My current boat I ordered the 1/2/Both battery option.  Two identical Odyssey Extreme PC1500/34M batteries.  Maybe over kill but I switched to the Odyssey Extreme PC1500/34M 850CCA AGM Group 34M Marine Battery.  Made in America.  Very robust capacity.  Expensive at ~$315 each without a discount.  I got mine at a discount at the time for $250 each.  Pricey compared to many other "Marine" batteries.  

As for Batteries.  There are many to choose from.  I suggest an AGM style battery.  Which stands for Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM).  Sealed battery no acid to spill.  Takes the vibration and pounding in boats.

I have had Optima Blue top batteries but last year one of the two failed at just over 1 year old.  Way early even with keeping trickle chargers on all winter.  Optima switched mfg overseas (China) which I think maybe the reason for quality issues.  IMO not the same quality.  

Odyssey MFG site info below.

ODYSSEY batteries are manufactured to strict quality standards in two facilities globally: Warrensburg, Missouri USA and Newport, Wales United Kingdom.    

ODYSSEY Extreme Series Marine Battery Model 34M-PC1500ST
*This battery model comes with the Separate Spacer for Group 34 Batteries
Group 34 with tin-plated SAE posts, 3/8 inch positive and 5/16 inch negative thread SS stud terminals 
Like an athlete that is both a sprinter and a long distance runner, the ODYSSEY Marine Dual Purpose battery has both massive starting power and amazing deep cycling capability - up to 400 cycles at 80% depth of discharge. With twice the overall power and three times the life of conventional marine batteries, the ODYSSEY battery is ideal for trolling, starting, and for powering the many on-board electronic accessories common in today's boats and recreational vehicles.

Hope that helps.  

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If you do not want to get a combiner or switch that can keep them separated from time to time, then I would recommend that you NOT buy a new battery to combine with the old.  Combining an old and new battery will likely lead to quick demise of one, the other, or both.   

If the two batteries are always going to be together, then get 2 of the same age and type.  My personal use is to never combine batteries of differing ages and types, and I think it has saved me chasing a few electrical gremlins.  It is more expensive that way, but worth it to me to keep me from being on the water wondering why something isn't working.  Many people use a deep cycle and a starting battery that are only combined intermittently, and that is probably Ok, but I still avoid it.  

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Most important is a winter maintainer or charger that has a SLOW charging mode and has a sensing mode.

I know because I have 7 marine batteries in 5 boats and they're all more than 3 years old and they live in the cold all winter.

You don't have to spend a lot.

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9 hours ago, minnmarker said:

and  never touch a battery switch again or get stranded.

Im interested in how you can get the house battery to crank the engine, without a battery switch. I hope the answer is NOT to break out the tools and swap batteries and cables around. 

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2 minutes ago, MLA said:

Im interested in how you can get the house battery to crank the engine, without a battery switch. I hope the answer is NOT to break out the tools and swap batteries and cables around. 

He never said that he wouldn't have a battery switch, but rather never needing to touch on with an ACR.  This is a true statement - I never touch mine unless I'm trying to cut power to the whole boat to work on something electrical.

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8 minutes ago, MLA said:

Im interested in how you can get the house battery to crank the engine, without a battery switch. I hope the answer is NOT to break out the tools and swap batteries and cables around. 

How often does your engine battery go dead and need to switch to your house battery?  If it's often enough that a switch is needed, you might want to rethink your battery system.

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20 minutes ago, Nitrousbird said:

He never said that he wouldn't have a battery switch, but rather never needing to touch on with an ACR. 

Then ill ask you the same question. Without toughing a switch, that may or may not be present, how do you get the house battery to crank the engine, in a case where the main battery fails? 

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1 minute ago, MLA said:

Then ill ask you the same question. Without toughing a switch, that may or may not be present, how do you get the house battery to crank the engine, in a case where the main battery fails? 

Have never once needed to do this.  Out on the water, why would the main battery die?  Unless the alternator dies or the battery is simply bad, there really isn't much reason.  Since the stereo is on a totally separate battery, which is the typical cause of dead batteries on the water, it is a non-factor.  Charging with the onboard charger after every use also helps prevent this.

I've had older batteries get slow to crank, typically from running my ballast pumps with the boat off, but never enough to cause a no-start condition, and I run fairly small AGM batteries.  

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33 minutes ago, MLA said:

Im interested in how you can get the house battery to crank the engine, without a battery switch. I hope the answer is NOT to break out the tools and swap batteries and cables around. 

Why would you hope that?  It's actually never happened but in case, for some reason, it does, switching terminals is not such a big deal.  Less chance of screwing that up than having to remember to have a switch in the right position at the right time day after day after day. ;)

Technology - use it.

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3 hours ago, MadMan said:

How often does your engine battery go dead and need to switch to your house battery?  If it's often enough that a switch is needed, you might want to rethink your battery system.

Once is one time to many for anyone to get stuck on the lake, would you agree? Arc welding my craftsmen adjustable wrench to the battery posts while undoing multiple cables while the boat bobs on the waves, does not sound appealing, but hay, thats just me. Even more fun at night.

Cant see why anyone would be opposed to a simple turn of a switch, in order to make use of all the available battery power, to refire the boat and get off the lake. 

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  • 1 year later...
On ‎6‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 6:19 PM, ORMailbuboater said:

 

I have had Optima Blue top batteries but last year one of the two failed at just over 1 year old.  Way early even with keeping trickle chargers on all winter.  Optima switched mfg overseas (China) which I think maybe the reason for quality issues.  IMO not the same quality.  

 

I second this..... Optima's are the most expensive pieces of junk available. The dealer I do side work for also sells Regal, and Regal was installing/recommending Optima's for a year or two recently (maybe '17 and '18??). We had nearly 50% of them fail in the first year, including several that exploded. Absolute garbage.

For the MC's we use an appropriate sized (different models have different sizes) Interstate AGM cranking battery for the engine, and a AGM deep cycle for the house battery. This setup has worked very well.

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  • 1 month later...

Can we talk batteries again? I was reading this post, and I searched for the Odyssey batteries, and found this...

https://www.usfitwear.com/purpose-battery-trolling-34m-pc1500st-odyssey-dual-thunder-marine-n24yr39f
 

Seems like there has to be an error, the model number is the same, but it says “trolling battery”. Is there really a difference? If not, this price is amazing! 

Also, what batteries do you use? I run my stereo at higher volumes while tied up for extended periods of time and will often get some cutting out that happens after a while and an indication that my batteries are running low on the dash. I want to maximize this time on battery with some new ones. I have 34 series Lead Acid now. They’re huge, but they’re not maintenance free batteries and I don’t think I want to continue to run them. I used to have Optima’s in my old boat and loved them, but I’m hearing the quality isn’t what it used to be. 

 

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3 hours ago, LS1boarder said:

Seems like there has to be an error, the model number is the same, but it says “trolling battery”. Is there really a difference? If not, this price is amazing! 

I did not yet click the link and read, but of you searching for a house battery, I would ignore terms like trolling and deep-cycle and focus on the Ah spec per the group size. For a cranking battery, its all about the MCA spec. 

The issue with the blue tops, for me anyway, is not their quality, but their low Ah rating to $$$ ratio compared to other AGM batteries. There are much better Ah ratings for the same size battery, for about the same price point. The 2nd thing is, you really need their charger to best service a house bank of the 31M's. Thats why they dont last for some people. 

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5 hours ago, LS1boarder said:

Can we talk batteries again? I was reading this post, and I searched for the Odyssey batteries, and found this...

https://www.usfitwear.com/purpose-battery-trolling-34m-pc1500st-odyssey-dual-thunder-marine-n24yr39f
 

Seems like there has to be an error, the model number is the same, but it says “trolling battery”. Is there really a difference? If not, this price is amazing! 

Also, what batteries do you use? I run my stereo at higher volumes while tied up for extended periods of time and will often get some cutting out that happens after a while and an indication that my batteries are running low on the dash. I want to maximize this time on battery with some new ones. I have 34 series Lead Acid now. They’re huge, but they’re not maintenance free batteries and I don’t think I want to continue to run them. I used to have Optima’s in my old boat and loved them, but I’m hearing the quality isn’t what it used to be. 

 

I don't know how you can get a decent battery for under $100.  I would be very skeptical of that deal.

I had two Odyssey Extreme Series 31-PC2150S batteries and the Blue Sea ACR in my last boat and it was perfect.  But those were $400 batteries.  You can get them from Amazon with free shipping which is a deal on an 80 pound battery.

I had two 10" subs, six 6.5" full range speakers, and a 700W Class D 5-channel amp and could blast the stereo for hours off the house battery (engine off) without flipping any switches or worrying about being stranded.  Then crank up the engine from the fully charged engine battery and the ACR joins both batteries together and charges everything up again.  I put in the Off/On/Emergency battery switch that would disconnect both batteries, connect both batteries to their loads, or connect all batteries to all loads (emergency mode).  1/0 copper wire on everything.  It was the perfect setup.  Idiot proof, reliable, and huge capacity.

I wanted the same setup in the 2020 25LSV I just took delivery on a few weeks ago so I ordered the "Option 3" battery setup.  That gives you two Deka Group 27 batteries and Blue Sea ACR in a boat with factory electric thruster and way more stereo wattage and other electric loads than my last boat.  The performance is poor to say the least.  With the engine running (with upgraded 170A alternator and ACR energized) the battery voltage drops rapidly when I run the thruster.  At about the four second mark the battery voltage is at 9V, the radio shuts off, and the thruster performance is decreasing to nothing.   This is with the engine running at idle speed.  On the 25LSV the thruster doesn't exactly whip that hull around.  There are plenty of times you need more than 4 seconds for it to be useful.  Besides just being a pain in the rear, I'm worried this is going to burn up my alternator eventually.  Dealer is looking into it with Malibu but the problem is obvious to me: way too small of batteries mounted in the front of a 25 Ft boat with an electric stern thruster.  For what's in this boat and for what it cost it should be more like my last setup.

I'm researching how to add at least one more of those Odyssey Group 31 AGM batteries in my port side storage, hopefully close to the thruster relay box and parallel it with the factory house battery.  Anyone tried that?

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On 5/31/2018 at 8:04 PM, Sam2003vlx said:

I currently only use one battery on my 03 that powers everything for the boat including 8 JbL speakers ,12 inch sub and 3 amps. My existing battery gets hooked up to a trickle charger after each use. I want to get a new battery, whats the latest and greatest marine battery. Thanks 

Dual Walmart sealed lead acid (for @$110 each) and an ACR.  No need for a switch if you have one of the batteries dedicated to the stereo only.  I've got that setup with a 90 amp alternator and have no problem with my 700 watts of stereo.  No need  to get "marine batteries."  Lead acid chemistry does not change just because they call it marine.

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7 hours ago, minnmarker said:

Dual Walmart sealed lead acid (for @$110 each) and an ACR.  No need for a switch if you have one of the batteries dedicated to the stereo only.  I've got that setup with a 90 amp alternator and have no problem with my 700 watts of stereo.  No need  to get "marine batteries."  Lead acid chemistry does not change just because they call it marine.

There is no difference in battery chemistry but there definitely is a difference in the physical construction of a cheap Wal-Mart battery (which I believe are Johnson Controls products) and a quality AGM power sports battery.  Cheap batteries use thicker (heavier) lead alloy plates where high end batteries have thinner and lighter pure lead plates.  The strength and weight of the plates makes a difference in the battery's ability to endure physical shock.  And AGM construction is naturally better suited for enduring shock versus a conventional battery.  If you put a cheap battery in a boat and go pounding around on a rough lake for a year that battery will fail when the plates break loose and short out internally.  I learned this lesson the hard way a few years back when a battery shorted internally and ruptured the jar in the bilge of my Four Winns.  Blew battery acid and pieces of lead plate everywhere and left me in a bad spot when all electrical in the boat died while I was in a high traffic area.  The factory setup from Four Winns used trays only and not a full battery box.  A box would have prevented a big mess.  Nice to see the new Malibus have boxes.  

I'm not saying you need a $400 battery but a $100 battery in a small boat skipping off the top of chop is not going to last.  It is not possible to manufacture a battery with thin plate, spiral cell, or AGM technology for $100.  The farther forward in the hull you mount it, the shorter the lifespan also since the bow obviously take more of a beating than the stern.

Also, nearly all dry-storage facilities require battery switches in my experience.  They want the batteries off while stored to reduce the likelihood of fire.  And it's just a good practice to disconnect the batteries when the boat is not in use.  I believe this is also a NMMA requirement now for new boats.  

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5 hours ago, Jeepman said:

  It is not possible to manufacture a battery with thin plate, spiral cell, or AGM technology for $100.  The farther forward in the hull you mount it, the shorter the lifespan also since the bow obviously take more of a beating than the stern.

 

I know this isn't $100 -- but it's not too far off.  I've had really good luck with these.  

https://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-Platinum-AGM-Battery-Group-Size-H8/40647529

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6 hours ago, Jeepman said:

There is no difference in battery chemistry but there definitely is a difference in the physical construction of a cheap Wal-Mart battery (which I believe are Johnson Controls products) and a quality AGM power sports battery.  Cheap batteries use thicker (heavier) lead alloy plates where high end batteries have thinner and lighter pure lead plates.  The strength and weight of the plates makes a difference in the battery's ability to endure physical shock.  And AGM construction is naturally better suited for enduring shock versus a conventional battery.  If you put a cheap battery in a boat and go pounding around on a rough lake for a year that battery will fail when the plates break loose and short out internally.  I learned this lesson the hard way a few years back when a battery shorted internally and ruptured the jar in the bilge of my Four Winns.  Blew battery acid and pieces of lead plate everywhere and left me in a bad spot when all electrical in the boat died while I was in a high traffic area.  The factory setup from Four Winns used trays only and not a full battery box.  A box would have prevented a big mess.  Nice to see the new Malibus have boxes.  

I'm not saying you need a $400 battery but a $100 battery in a small boat skipping off the top of chop is not going to last.  It is not possible to manufacture a battery with thin plate, spiral cell, or AGM technology for $100.  The farther forward in the hull you mount it, the shorter the lifespan also since the bow obviously take more of a beating than the stern.

Also, nearly all dry-storage facilities require battery switches in my experience.  They want the batteries off while stored to reduce the likelihood of fire.  And it's just a good practice to disconnect the batteries when the boat is not in use.  I believe this is also a NMMA requirement now for new boats.  

I believe that yours is the very first post I've ever read about this exploding battery phenomenon. Which is not to say I don't believe you, but pretty much every single malibu that's ever rolled off of the assembly line has had SLA batteries installed.  Yours is a very uncommon experience.

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I don’t mind spending $400 if it truly is going to let me play my stereo at high volume for long periods of time without having to start my engine or plug it into someone else’s generator. I just want to make sure I get what I need. I think the “Ah” information seems to be important. There are just so many choices at varying price points, it’s hard to make a decision on what to get.

Here’s what I’m considering...

NorthStar NSB-AGM24M AGM Marine Battery 840CCA 1000 CA/MCA https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GC3DKQH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_IfBSEb7A6H1PA

Odyssey 34M-PC1500ST TROLLING Thunder Marine Dual Purpose Battery https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000T9BU5Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_BhBSEbFHQNDGB

VMAX XTR31-135 AGM Marine Battery 12V 135Ah Group 31 Sealed Deep Cycle High Performance https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072KCLKFT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_miBSEb0BFXF69

I like the idea of saving money, but I did that last time and wasn’t super happy with what I ended up with. I’m really leaning towards the Northstar at this point. Thanks for all the help so far, I think this is a beneficial discussion for everyone. I can’t be the only one who likes loud music for extended periods of time. 

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